Let it Snow

Wow, so much to say. In case you live in a cave you should know that in NJ we had a snowstorm this week. The snow started falling on Sunday at about 1 PM and continued through the day and night. It was sunny on Monday morning, but by that point inches upon inches of snow had fallen. Add to that the blizzard like effects of wind and there were snow drifts that were easily 3 feet high. After a path was shoveled from the gate in my backyard to my back door we had an area of snow that was nearly 5 feet high. It came up to my neck!

I didn’t expect with the storm that I’d find Twitter to be so much fun. I follow Newark Mayor Cory Booker. I’m not a huge fan of politicians, but I do like when they function like humans and actually care about people. Mayor Booker has been Tweeting nonstop since Sunday and it seems without a break. He’s been shoveling out cars all over the city; coordinating plows and police to keep the city clean and functioning. He has proven to be somewhat of a superhero. He was even photographed and it appeared he was trying to calm a dispute. In the photo he was not in a suit and tie, not even in a jacket! He was in sweats, no gloves, no hat (and he’s bald), but the point is that he was there.

I learned late on Sunday as the snow began to pile up and that my office was closed because of snow that a state of emergency had been declared. What was most telling however was who had made that declaration—State Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Seems he was given the role of acting governor because both Governor Chris Christie and Lt. Governor Guadagno were out of state on vacation. I paused. A storm was predicted for 5 days, reports from the South on Christmas Day told us the storm would be bad. Forecasters did not hesitate, they predicted more than 12 inches. And while all this was happening these two idiots packed up their families and headed to the airport. On Sunday as the snow approached they boarded planes and flew off on vacation.

Christie never stopped to say to his kids, “hey your mother and I make over $400 thousand a year, we can go to DisneyWorld anytime. There’s a storm headed and I need to coordinate efforts to keep the state moving.” Guadagno could leave, she’s useless anyhow. In fact maybe she’ll stay in Mexico.

Now add to this the fact that I have not read in any article yet, how will this storm affect the bottom line? Christie cut aid to towns and put upon them the difficult task of keeping their property tax increases below 2%. Now we just had a storm that required municipal workers and county workers to be in plows at all hours. I’m sure their overtime is going to be huge. Cops had to be out to cover accidents and to keep the roads clear so plows could go through. Again, overtime. Often during storms local fire departments step in to assist with stranded and stuck cars. Other emergency services are generally on alert and all of this costs money. Now let’s add the other costs of salt and gas and mix that with the fact that many towns had to lay off many of the people that handle these services because of the budget cuts and you’ve got what we are witnessing. Roads are not in great shape, I didn’t see salt down anywhere, and a lot of frustrated people.

Look cleanup after a storm like this can never be perfect. Cleanup after 5 inches generally is never good, but the bigger point is just how this all looks. Governor cuts budget, towns cut back, governor goes on vacation and basically throws his arms up and says, “deal with it,” when a record storm brings the state to a halt. Oh yeah, that’s the way to lead.

Author Robert Heinlein once said, “an armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” In place of arms we have technology right now. We have phones with Internet access and the ability to reach out to the world in real time. So when a car is stuck on Springfield Avenue in Newark, Mayor Booker is called to task thanks to Twitter. And unlike other politicians he has not fled and gone on vacation. He instead asks for the address and says he’ll a get a crew out there ASAP. And if the crew can’t make it he’s shown up personally to help.

So take that Chris Christie, how’s the line for the Tea Cups?

Bill Gates!?

Read the article from NY Times.com and then the comments below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/us/19gates.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=bill%20gates&st=cse

OK, Have you ever used Windows? I have, and it often has problems. Ever get the blue screen about some error that requires a memory dump and restart? I have. Do you trust the guy who made this thing give our districts advice on where and what to cut? I don't. But really, Windows aside, that is not why. I don't trust him because he has no experience in education. That man dropped out of college and he wasn't going for a teaching degree.

Sure his money has put him in a well placed position to be an "authority." And yes he does not want to be outdone by Marc Zuckerberg, but come on, he's the one telling schools what to do?

Bill Gates can solve the problem, take about 2% of his worth and pump it into schools.

As the article states, there is solid evidence to show that smaller class sizes, not larger ones, are more effective. Imagine the drain on a teacher having to grade 60 papers versus 30 in a day and doing it in true critical fashion. Don't pay a teacher because they have an MS, pay them because their kids do well on a standardized test? OK, the private sector pays people based upon educational experience and these are people who are not shaping tomorrow's leaders. Doesn't it make sense to pay based upon qualifications and experience? I know plenty of seasoned teachers that have kids who they cannot reach, no matter how hard I try. Now tell someone who's been a teacher 20 years you're docking them because that kid didn't meet the expectations. How is that fair when they did all they could. Teachers are told to reward students for trying, why not reward teachers for the effort as well?

The Time is Now

Yesterday I read a fairly bland Twitter post from NJ Governor Chris Christie:

GovChristie "Speaking to the Foundation for Excellence in Education tonight. Follow the link for excerpts from my remarks http://bit.ly/f8ef5F"

I responded:

ansonpope "@GovChristie Are you going to explain your failures in education? Cuts to pub, and inability to secure charter grants?"

To my surprise he, or someone within his organization responded to my Tweet:

GovChristie "@ansonpope Cuts necessitated by loss of $1b in Fed funds. Charter grant lost due 2 Corzine charter law failures. We sent fix to leg mos. ago"

Not to be outdone I fired back . . .

ansonpope "@GovChristie I have no love for charters so I care less about that, but now blame 800M cut on Feds? To date you blamed teachers, flip flop?"

ansonpope "@GovChristie sorry you blamed njea (so u say), but really blame teacher salaries, pick one lie and stick to it. You hate pub ed it's clear."

ansonpope "@GovChristie accept some fault, it humbles and makes one accept, all you do is deflect and point fingers when you are as much to blame."

By this point I must have gotten under his skin because I got two responses:

GovChristie "@ansonpope No, hole was created by $1b fed funding reduction. Fix for lost funds(salary freeze) was refused by NJEA, making cuts necessary."

GovChristie "@ansonpope Love good teachers & good public schools. Will not stand for greedy union. Story is and always has been the same b/c it is true."

This bothered me. To date Christie has claimed greedy teachers (or union--NJEA, he lumps the two together) are to blame. He claims that their high salaries, costly medical benefits, and pension payouts are digging the state into a hole. I had to then get in the last words:

ansonpope "@GovChristie define "good teacher" 1 whose kids get good scores or 1 who inspires genius regardless of scores?"

Didn't get a response after that. Maybe he was making his remarks, maybe he just realized I can be as bull-headed as he is.

Here's how I view this. Governor's race 2009. Governor Corzine gets the backing and support of the NJEA, the state's largest teacher union. They advertise for Corzine and against Christie, they pump money into Corzine's campaign (not that he needed it) and they make it a priority that their members will also support Corzine. NJEA claimed Christie had plans to cut education spending, attack the pension and health benefits. In response Christie unveiled his "Teachers for Christie" group (http://www.politickernj.com/chris-christie-governor/33614/teachers-christie-fighting-back-against-corzines-lies-chris-and-educat).

Note that the comments say specifically: "Chris will protect their pensions and pension fund dollars, will keep all current teacher health benefits intact, and commit to spend necessary funds on education."

Note this was written in 2009. Well here's where we are in 2010 . . . Education budget from the state cut by more than $800M, closer to $1B now. Pension levels adjusted and retirement ages and levels of retirement pension available changed. All teachers now pay 1.5% towards their health benefits and there is talk that should Christie get his "Tool Kit" passed to secure the 2% annual tax cap in place he may move to make teachers contribute 30% towards health benefits.

Read Christie's own "Letter to Teachers" (transcribed version available: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=311272548387&topic=15310). Everything the Governor claimed he would not do he has done. He claims it is because the Corzine administration, while wrapping up, hid vital information from him and so the cuts and everything had to happen.

How then, I ask you, is this man a hero of education? What gives him the right to present before an education group. Oh right, it's because they are a right wing group (http://www.excelined.org/).

My posts on Twitter got me the attention of pro-Christie zombies and anti-Christie supporters. My attitude remains unchanged--Christie has no solution, only the means to ruin our education system and the Democrats don't exactly have the plan to fix things either. Here are some solutions provided by the superintendent of Glen Rock (http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=311272548387&topic=15131). These ideas sound as though they have no hardline political agenda, they provide ways to help our children!